Door



March 3; 1931. c; J. WUNDERLICH 3 DOOR Filed June 20, 1928 2Sheets-Sheet l i inuemh'm I EJWundEfliuh 1 end of the same.

Patented Mar. 3, 1931 TES PATENT OFFICE CHRISTIAN J. WUNDERLICH, OFMITCHELL, SOUTH DAKOTA DOOR Application filed June 20,

This invention has for its object the provision of doors for closed vansand deliver trucks which will effectually close the truc or van and maybe very easily operated to open the door whenaccess to the van, isnecessary. jThe invention. also provides novel means whereby the doorsare arranged to open in two sections, one section swinging upwardly andthe other downwardly and may be-firmly held in the open position and soconnected that movement of either section of the door willcause. acorresponding movement of the other section. While the invention isintended primarily for use upon der livery trucks and closed vans-and isherein after more particularly described as so applied, it is to beunderstood that doors embodying the inventionmay be provided uponfreight cars or other types of vehicles. The invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawing and will be hereinafter fully described,thenovel features being particularly pointed out in the appended claim.a

In the'drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a door embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, the open position of the door beingshown by dotted lines; a

Fig. 3 is a front elevation showing another embodiment of the invention,and

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

- In the drawing, the reference. numeral 1 7 indicates the top of atruck or van and 2 the floor of the same, while 3 indicates the sidesthereof, the door being arranged at the end of the van body. The doorcomprises an upper section 4 and a lower section 5 of similar form, theupper section being connected by hinges 6 to a rail 7 secured betweenthe sides ofvthe vehicle body immediately adjacent the top thereof, andthe lower section being connected by hinges 8 with the floor of the bodyat the The hinges may be of any known or approved construction and areso disposed that the door sections may swing outwardly to'any desiredextent but their inward movement will be limited by the hinged edgesthereof abutting the lower edge of the 1928. serial No. 286,907..

rail 7 and the upper surface of thevfioor 2 re 2 utilized as'a skid orunloading platform over which to move the contents. of the vehicle whenwithdrawing the same.

A latching lever 9 is pivoted between its ends, as at 10, upon the lowerdoor section and is adapted to bridge. the meeting ends of the sectionswhereby to prevent accidental opening movement of the sections, and theupper end of this latching lever is adapted in closed position to engageunder a keeper 11 secured upon the. upper door section portion isadapted to engage under a keeper 12 secured upon the lower door section,these keepers being arranged in reverse relation so that, when the latchis swung about its pivot 10, it will simultaneously move intoengagementwith the two keepers or out of engagement therewith in anobvious manner. If desired, any known form of seal or look may beprovided upon either keeper so as to maintain the latch in engagementwith the keepers unless the seal be broken, and tampering'with thecontents of the vehicle by unauthorized persons will thus be detected.It is also to be noted, as shown most clearly in Fig. 1, that the lowerend of the latch member is enlarged, as indicated at 13, whereby it willbe overweighted and the latch will constantly tend to assume thevertical position shown in the drawing tobridge the meeting edges of thedoor sections. In order to assist in maintaining the latch bar in theclosed position and prevent vibration of the latch bar with resultingaccidental opening of the door, a retractile spring 14 is secured at oneend upon the lower door section and has its opposite end engaged in anotch 15 in the lower end of the latch lever, as shown and as will beunderstood.

A bracket 16 is secured to the lower door section adjacent the edgethereof and pro jects laterally from said section in position to bearagainst the end edge of theside wall of the vehicle body or the doorframe. This bracket is equipped at its outer end with; an

eye 17 in which is secured one endof a cable while its lower V therefromand to the outer endofthis bracket.

is secured a lever 21 which extends upwardly therefrom and to the freeend of which the end of the cable 18 is secured, as shown at} causes itto swing toward the vertical position as the lower door member swingsupwardly andthe lever may then be very easily 22. If the lower doorsection be swung'outwardly, the pull exerted thereby upon the;

cable 18 will be transmitted to the upper iree end of the lever 21andsaid leveriwill -b'e pulled downwardly at its upper end so that theupper 'door section will be; swungjup wardly, as indicated by thedottedlines fiuence upon the upper door section will be Fig. 2. The weight ofthe lower fdoo'r' section from the vehicle will prevent movement otthesaid section towards'its closed position, and inasmuchas the lever 21 isthus heldin a downwardly extending position, as indicated by the dottedlines,the upper door section will be held open. flit, however, the lowerdoorsection be swung upwardly to permit the same to close, therestraining inrelaxed and saidsection may simultaneously swingdownwardly to its closed position. Of course, if desired, the'well-knownstay chains may' 'be employed to prevent the lower door dropping toolow,

I In the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 a bracket 23 carrying an outwardlyprojecting post Qlis secured upon the rail 7, the'post having an idlerroller or pulley 25 mounted its outer end, and on the inner side of theupper door section is secured a post 26, which inthe closed positionofthe door will extend close to the top of the vehicle body and-is'there equipped with an idler roller 27,1-as shown mostclearly in Fig.4.Other idler rollers'28 and 29 are mounted upon the side of the vehiclebody within the same and a cable or other flexible element 30 isattached at one end to the lower'door. sectionQas by .an eye 31, andpasses therefrom overftlie pulleys :and 28 to'then ride over'the idlerand pass out'through an opening .32 at; ;the top of the vehicle body toride over the pulley% and depend from said pulley. The end of the Whenit is desired to again close the door, it is necessary merely. to pushthe lower section upwardly, the upper section automatically followingthe movement and closing. This form of the inventionis well adapted touse upon freight car doors, and it is to be understood that themechanism maybe provided in duplicate and applied toboth sides of thedoor. i V

The overbalancing ofthe latching lever engaged withithflzeepers '10 and11 and be again secured. V

From the-foregoingdescription, taken in connection with theaccompanyingdrawing, it will be seen; that I have-provided an exceedingly simpledoor which will completely close'the'door' opening and which, whenopened, will provide a platform' or skid to fa cilitate the withdrawalof objects from the vehicle while the upper door section will serveasa-root' or canopy'to-protect-the contents-of the vehicle-from theeffectsof the 3' :U- IE, I -I- Having thus described the invention, Iclaim': 'The; combination with top, bottom and spaced side membersdefining door opening, and 'adoor for the opening comprising-upper andlower sections hinged to the said top and bcttom m mb rs respectively,to swing in opposite directions, of brackets carried by the'doorsections and projecting laterally therefrom aeross'the side members'tolimit the closing of the doorand position thes ections, levers extendingalong the side members in an upward direction and secured at theirlowerends to the brackets attached to the upper door section, a flexibleconnection attached at one end to the upper'end of a lever and atits'otherendto a bracket of the lower door section, and a guideelementior eachflexible connection disposed somefdistan c-e fronrtheplane of thefdoor and about opposite the meetin g edges of the'doorsections.

In testimony whereof I aflix' my signature.

' CHRISTIAN J. WUNDERLICI'L [L s.]

cable is fastened to the upper door member, 7' as indicated at 33.As'sumingthe door to be closed, as shown in the drawing, to permitopening of the door, the latch bar 9 is swung out of engagement with'thekeepers 10 and 11 and caused to assume a position entirely clear of thekeepers. The door sections may then be swung. respectively upwardly anddownwardly by merely pulling down on the lower section, and as the uppersection swings upwardly the post 26 will swing therewith I i so as toassume a substantially horizontal po sition, whereupon the parts will beheld in I the positions to which they have been moved.

